Alzheimer's Day 2022: A guide to understanding the disease

Alzheimer's Day is observed to raise awareness and challenge the stigma around Alzheimer's disease and all other neurological diseases.

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Alzheimer's is a neurological disorder and is the most common cause of 'dementia' and affects a person's memory, and mental capabilities and is a progressive irreversible disease. Primary symptoms are memory loss and confusion; the person with Alzheimer's disease will eventually lose the ability to respond to their environment, including becoming exhausted after every conversation.

Here is a simple guide to understanding Alzheimer's disease and what it is like for people who know mental health and depression only from social media posts.

Symptoms

Alzheimer's disease is a condition that robs people of their memories. People initially struggle to recollect current events, but they often have little trouble recalling those that occurred years ago.

As time progresses, other symptoms start appearing like:

- Trouble focusing

- A hard time doing ordinary activities

- Feeling confused or frustrated, especially at night

- Dramatic mood swings -- outbursts of anger, anxiety, and depression

- Feeling disoriented and getting lost easily

- Physical problems, such as an odd walk or poor coordination

- Trouble communicating

Causes

Alzheimer's is a neurological disease so the exact cause of this disorder is practically unknown but it's a combination of age-related, genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors which contribute significantly.

The communication that occurs inside our brain is through billions of nerve cells that communicate with each other and enable a variety of functions like thinking and remembering and with the regeneration/degeneration process continuing with the disorder in play the condition gets worse with more and more interference into daily activities.

Treatment

It's not all happy endings like in movies because basic functions suffer and family members get demotivated after a certain stage after seeing their loved one suffer like this is just sad. 

Although there is no known cure for Alzheimer's, there are treatments that could potentially halt the disease's progression and improve the symptoms of the condition. The course of the ailment will determine the recommended course of treatment.

Theme

Every year there is a theme to commemorate Alzheimer's Day to outline the agenda for every particular year. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the world has come together in solidarity and so awareness about psycho-neurological diseases is important. This year's theme, "Know Dementia, Know Alzheimer's" continues from the 2021 campaign focusing on warning signs and diagnosis of dementia and also the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dementia community around the world.

The purpose of Alzheimer's Day is to debunk common misconceptions about dementia and raise awareness of the importance of talking about it. 

(Disclaimer: The information in this article is based on general information and does not substitutes for a medical expert's opinion. Zee News does not confirm this.)